


Trim and Lace

by Chezmeralda



Category: Free!
Genre: Crossdressing, Gen, M/M, NOT A KINK, Not a Fetish, Self-Acceptance, Sousuke in a Dress trend 2k16, does this even count as a shippy piece, i think the tags are right, if not im v sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 03:11:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7828225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chezmeralda/pseuds/Chezmeralda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Sousuke finds acceptance to one of his stranger hobbies in the most unexpected of places.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trim and Lace

**Author's Note:**

> Hey am I late to the 'Sousuke in a Dress' party or...?

"Yamazaki! Heard about what Matsuoka found in your room! Do you think she’s got a friend for me?”

 Sousuke glared at the guy who was calling him out in the hallway, freezing him in his tracks. Honestly, he had wanted to keep that part of him a secret.

 Well, at least everyone was assuming that girls were coming over to the dorm, and forgetting their clothes.

 

_“Seriously, Sousuke?” Rin had barked at him and threw a pillow to the top bunk, startling Sousuke out of his food induced daze._

_“What?” Sousuke barked back, sitting up. His eyes widened in horror, the colour draining from his face when he saw what Rin was holding up. It was a dress, a lacy light yellow dress, and a large one, too._

_“Where’d you get this?” Rin grinned, shark teeth flashing as he leered up at Sousuke._

_Sousuke spluttered, trying to find an excuse, a reason, in his mind, but all the blood had rushed out of his face. Shit, if he told the truth—_

_“Damn, Sousuke, since when have you been sneaking girls in here?”_

_Sousuke blinked. “Huh?”_

_Rin tossed the dress on Sousuke’s chair and shook his head up at him. “Breaking the rules, and you weren’t even telling me. I would have helped you sneak her in, you know.”_

_Sousuke gaped at him, his mouth opening and closing like that of a goldfish. Finally, he snapped his mouth shut, and just nodded at Rin. “I-I guess I didn’t think of it…”_

He shut his eyes and continued to walk, only opening his eyes to glare at someone if they got too mouthy about what they heard. It had spread around campus that he had a girl (or even more than one) that came around his dorm and sometimes forgot her clothes there.

That wasn’t true, that wasn’t true at all. Sousuke could barely make regular friends, how did anyone believe that he was able to talk to a girl and convince her to come back to his dorm?

Those were actually Sousuke’s clothes.

He only started really wearing them for himself when he had to continually make trips in and out of the hospital. His whole life, he just remembered thinking they were pretty on his mom, and then on the girls he saw (like Gou). So when he got his first dress (when was it, middle school?) he couldn’t help the giddy feeling he had seeing the colours and the fluffy skirt. A far cry from the boring, sanitized feel of a hospital gown.

He also knew there was no way he could ever tell anyone.

He’d thought about telling Rin, coming clean and just admitting to the truth. Those were his clothes, and he actually liked wearing those clothes sometimes, and he didn’t know why. He just did. It wasn’t anything about feeling pretty or whatever, they were just… nice to look at.

Sousuke signed out at the front office, letting them know that he’d be out for the day. He had turned down Rin’s plans to hang out with Gou and watch a movie. He hadn’t explained why.

There was a sale on at the local thrift shop.

He saw Gou a few weeks back wearing a dress that he didn’t have yet, and he was having a hard time looking for one in his size. Maxi dresses sometimes hit him weird on the hips, or stretched around his shoulders and he’d end up not buying them, realizing that the wear-and-tear of the clothing would be dramatic.

But thrift shops tended to have things, even if they were a bit dusty. Sousuke could just wash them. Though, he wondered how he was going to do that given that the whole campus knew and _thought he was banging some girl that just happened to leave whole articles of clothing at his dorm_. He wondered, briefly, if they paused long enough to notice the size of the actual dresses. Because they were not small.

And Sousuke lives in a dorm at an all boys’ school. _Someone_ would have noticed a girl who was that tall if she was sneaking around with Sousuke.

He has his cap low over his eyes and his duffel bag at his side when he walked trough the doors of the thrift shop. The thrift shop always had weird, eclectic things being brought in to be sold at extremely cut prices, and that was saying something for a thrift shop in Japan. The racks were lined with red tags and mark downs, clearly trying to make space for more items that were already at a cheap price. He hurried to the back where all the clothes were.

The selection was never really the best, considering thrift shops got the very last of inventory from boutiques and department stores, and some donations from people trying to clear out their houses. There was an array of mismatched items that Sousuke began to pilfer through, his face scrunched at the pieces he had to choose from. It honestly confused him about who exactly was donating some of these clothes, the items so different in theme and style and size.

His eyes lit up, finding a striped maxi dress with a rope belt. Sousuke immediately froze, looking around for anyone that might be looking his way before he scrunched up the dress in a ball and made his way to the makeshift dressing room at the back of the store. It’s covered with piles of unsorted clothes, so it’s very inconspicuous, but it still caused him a slight panic whenever he managed to find something and had try it on.

Sousuke slipped on the dress as quickly as possible, perks of being a swimmer meant that he learned to dress quickly. He looked around the dressing room, horrified that there was no mirror. Peaking out and seeing the coast was clear, he stepped out quickly to pull at the cloth that flowed down his legs. He guessed it was okay—

“Ah.”

Sousuke’s eyes widened and his head whipped around, horrified to see blue eyes stare back at him. It made him jump, nearly toppling over and crashing back into the dressing room.

Haruka was here.

Haruka was here and _he saw_.

Shit. Shitshitshitshit _shitshitshit_.

Sousuke didn’t move. He didn’t even think to breathe as he waited for something, _anything_. A sound, a movement, signalling to him that Haruka was coming to peer into the dressing room to get a proper view of what he’d just seen so that he could spread the word that Yamazaki Sousuke had _a strange thing for dresses—_

The sound never came, and Sousuke wheezed as he tried to, ungracefully, pull himself up. It took a lot of effort, and he bumped his bad shoulder in the process, but he braced himself on his knees, gasping when he finally managed. He peaked out of the curtain, only to feel even more horrified than before.

Haruka was gone.

Sousuke felt a chill creep up his neck. Did Haruka not need to see again? Had he already run off to tell people? Had he already called Rin? Or his friend, Makoto? Sousuke undressed and made the purchase, though as he left the thrift store he realized perhaps if he didn’t have the dress there wouldn’t be any proof to Haruka’s claim. He bit his lip, and hurried back to the dorms.

 

* * *

 

“Rin,” Sousuke barked, startling Rin to fall back from his chair to hit the floor. He tried not to laugh as Rin cursed, his legs flung over him so he was in an uncomfortable position.

“What the f- Sousuke, you jerk!” Rin managed to stand up and brush himself off, rubbing his neck and glaring as he righted his chair.

“Has Nanase told you anything?”

Rin blinked, looking at Sousuke with confusion. “Told me about what?”

“I don’t know, anything.”

“That’s very cryptic, Sousuke.” Rin popped his neck a bit as he rubbed out the soreness. “What exactly would Haru talk to me about?”

Sousuke didn’t know what to say, and he realized before he could stop himself, that his words might have been less than pleasant. “So do you even talk to Nanase outside of swimming?”

He watched Rin squawk, clearly caught off guard by the comment that Sousuke didn’t actually _mean_ to make, it just slipped out. He was in a state of panic, after all. “W-we talk!” Rin blushed. “We talk about…”

Sousuke looked at him, waiting. “Last conversation we had was about food,” Rin replied, eyebrow arched.

“So you talked about fish.”

“How do you know the food we were talking about was fish?”

“You told me he doesn’t eat anything except mackerel.” Sousuke watched Rin open his mouth in rebuttal, only to close it again.

“W-well, shut up!” Rin stammered, and Sousuke snorted at him. “It’s not like Haru texts often anyway! He barely texts Makoto and they’re best friends.”

Sousuke breathed out with relief. Seemed like he was safe at the moment. “Isn’t that because they live next to each other?”

Rin froze at the door as if processing Sousuke’s remark. “I’m gonna go jog,” he muttered, red to his ears. He left without another word, and Sousuke let his shoulders relax. Haruka hadn’t mentioned anything just yet to Rin. There was the off chance that he had said something to Makoto, but Sousuke was more worried about Rin at the moment. He felt relief, only to be short lived when he remembered who Haruka’s friends were.

Aside from Makoto, there was Rei, who might be appalled by the new knowledge that Haruka could impart to him about Sousuke, but he had a feeling that Rei wouldn’t say anything. The one he felt most worried about was the little blond one, Nagisa.

“Shit,” he muttered darkly under his breath, checking the calendar he and Rin had put up on the far wall opposite their bunk. The next joint practice with the Iwatobi Swim Club would be in two days. Two days.

Sousuke had to wait that long for what he felt was inevitable torture, unless during the span of those two days, Haruka and Rin met up the information was slipped.

Two days.

 

* * *

 

Joint practice didn’t come fast enough. It was literal mind _torture_ whenever Rin would open his mouth, or look at his phone, or mention the Iwatobi team. Honestly he would rather someone stab him in the ear with a rusty fork than wait for the outcome. Haruka had to have told; he _had_ had to. There was no way, given the nature of their… friendship? Not to mention all the hard times that he’d given Haruka, and how abundantly clear it was that he was less than fond of the freestyle swimmer. It was the most perfect piece of revenge that the universe could have granted him, and Sousuke was mortified that karma was going to bite him back in the ass with _this_ , of all things.

He sat on the poolside bench, no longer participating in practice aside from observing and giving tips to the younger club members. His eyes scanned the perimeter and his gaze fell on the small group of five, stretching and talking. He caught eyes with Haruka and it took everything he had not to blanch, Haruka’s eyes only widening slightly.

“Sou-chan!” Nagisa called from across the pool and Sousuke held his breath because _this is it_ , this was what he was expecting. He wasn’t sure if he should run, his palms sweating, he was hoping that maybe, at least, Nagisa would have come up to him first, rather than screamed his secret for everyone to hear across the pool.

So it surprised him when all Nagisa did was wave frantically with both arms, wildly flailing and almost hitting Rei in the face. He held his breath when Nagisa bounded over, all sunshine and sparkles and bouncy blond hair. “I found this really great buffet and Rin-chan said that we should all go! Do you wanna go? Pleeeaaaase???”

Sousuke blinked, unsure of what to say. Did Nagisa know or not? “I… guess?” came out his stunned reply, and Nagisa let out a whoop of joy, only to be immediately scolded by Rin.

He glanced back at Haruka, who was now looking up at Makoto as he chatted animatedly. Did Haruka not tell anyone?

Sousuke swiped his mouth with his hand, feeling suddenly cotton-mouthed from his realization. Maybe Haruka was going to blackmail him with it. It was the perfect type of thing that could be used against Sousuke as blackmail; it was a secret, and it was something that no one expected of him. He watched the back of Haruka’s head through narrowed eyes, fidgeting his leg as he watched him jump into the pool, all grace and clean lines.

 

* * *

 

“Hey,” he strolled up to the Iwatobi gang, looking as intimidating as he could. It was easy, especially now, when he was absolutely mentally shitting himself. “Nanase, we need to talk.”

Nagisa and Rei were off in the distance, looking as though Rei was scolding Nagisa as Nagisa ran around with… something, in his hands. Makoto and Haruka looking at him, Makoto with a tilt of his head, staring wide eyed at him.

“Did you want me to wait for you, Haru?” Makoto asked.

“It’s fine.”

There was a slight change in Makoto’s expression, like the tone Haruka had used had told him more than what he’d actually said. Whenever Sousuke was watching the pair interact, it freaked him out. It was like alien radio transmission was happening between the two of them. “Okay. Just remember the twins are expecting you for dinner.”

Haruka hummed, and the pair stood staring at each other in utter, palpable silence as the rest of the club walked off, Nagisa screaming something about ice cream for dinner and Rei chastising him about health. It was only when they couldn’t hear the group that Haruka spoke up.

“What is it?”

Sousuke narrowed his eyes at him, a cold sweat threatening to break on his brow. “Who have you told?” he grit his teeth.

Haruka blinked at him, looking confused. Why would he look confused?! “Told?” Haruka tilted his head like he had no clue what Sousuke was talking about. Was he being daft on purpose?

“Don’t play dumb,” Sousuke stepped forward, irritated. “We both know what you saw on the weekend.”

It took him another minute to process, as if recalling the memory and it almost offended Sousuke that Haruka seemed to have forgotten so easily. What he saw last weekend was an important secret to him! “Oh, that. No, I haven’t told anyone.”

Sousuke opened his mouth to yell, but he closed it again. Why did he sound so nonchalant about this? “Then are you gonna blackmail me with it?” he narrowed his eyes.

Haruka continued to stare at him, and _crap_ maybe he hadn’t thought of that and Sousuke had given him the idea. “No, I’m not.”

Sousuke stared at him, part of him relieved but part of him filled with utter disbelief. There was no way Haruka wasn’t going to blackmail him with this. “Fine,” he whispered, stepping closer and getting in Haruka’s space, forcing him to look up. “But you’re done for if I hear anything about this.”

He turned away quickly before Haruka could see how scared he actually was. Maybe threatening him wasn’t the brightest of ideas, but as he peaked behind him, he saw that Haruka was staring at him leave for a moment before he turned to catch up to his friends.

Sousuke wasn’t sure if that made him happy or made him more nervous.

 

* * *

 

It had been exactly two weeks. Two weeks since he’d confronted Haruka, and nothing. There was two weeks of complete radio silence. No snickers, no nudges, no knowing glances. Nothing. It was eerie, and too unsettling.

Practice was taking a break and Sousuke followed Haruka out of the pool. He walked some distance away from him until Haruka stopped at a vending machine to buy a bottle of water. “Do you always have to follow me out to the vending machines?”

Sousuke almost jumped, hitting the plant with his heel. Maybe he should have expected that Haruka would have known. “Have you really not told anyone?” he looked so disbelieving, he just didn’t understand _why_ nothing had happened yet.

“No, I haven’t. And I’m not going to, either,” Haruka sounded exasperated, turning to Sousuke with bored eyes. _Rude_. “I don’t really care what you do in your spare time.”

Sousuke wasn’t sure how he felt about hearing that. At least, he was mostly relieved. “Okay,” it sounded like a lame, cop-out answer, and he scratched the back of his neck. “I’d… like to keep it a secret.”

Sousuke watched Haruka’s eyes change slightly, like there was something akin to concern or sympathy despite his neutral face. “I wouldn’t tell anyone, Yamazaki,” Haruka sounded so sincere in that moment, that it made Sousuke feel _bad_ for ever suspecting him.

He nodded, turning away from Haruka before glancing back tentatively. “Hey, thanks,” he mumbled, walking away from him as quickly as he could.

There seemed to be a huge weight lifted from his shoulders, like someone had finally let go of his lungs and he could breathe just a bit easier. It felt… nice that someone knew his secret and hadn’t announced it to the world, and hadn’t ridiculed him for it.

He wasn’t sure if he should be even more grateful that the feeling came from Haruka.

 

* * *

 

“Yamazaki.”

It was three weeks since Sousuke had confronted Haruka, and a week since Haruka had promised that his secret would never be leaked. Sousuke looked up from his book. He was in the viewing area of the pool, his shoulder irritating him a bit and was forced to stay behind the sound proof glass. “What?” he wasn’t sure what he was expecting to hear from Haruka.

It was definitely more than surprising, when Haruka turned his head away (was he _blushing?_ ) and stuck out his hand awkwardly, holding out a paper bag. He dropped it unceremoniously in Sousuke’s lap. “Open it when you’re by yourself,” he mumbled, turning away hurriedly to get back to the pool. Sousuke stared, mildly suspicious of the package. He was going to leave practice early, anyway, he was getting bored and he wasn’t doing anything. Sousuke slipped the paper bag in his duffel bag and left to his dorm.

He plopped the bag in front of him on his bunk, not sure what to think about it. It was from Haruka, and his first instinct was to be suspicious of it, but that urge was soon gone and replaced with… confusion. Haruka had kept his word and hadn’t told anyone about his secret. So he opened the bag with only mild suspicion.

Sousuke’s eyes widened as he pulled out a net crop top that matched the dress he’d bought a while ago. He blinked, stunned, turning it in his hands and feeling the material. It was really well made, and incredibly light. It would look great over top of the dress—

He paused, shoving the crop top back into the bag and pulled out his phone. Rin had made him exchange numbers with the Iwatobi club a while ago…

Sousuke had to keep from snorting, having forgotten that he’d put Haruka’s number under ‘weird fish’.

> [text]: why’d you give me this

He blinked, wondering if it was a good idea that he texted Haruka. After all, Rin did say that the guy barely used his phone—

> [text]: thought u’d like it

Sousuke paused, stunned at how quick the reply was. Was Haruka expecting him to text?

> [text]: this better not be a trick, nanase
> 
> [text]: its not dnt wrry…

He stared at the replies. A thought came into his head, and his thumb shook a bit as he pressed the keys on his phone.

> [text]: oi nanase
> 
> [text]: did you make this?

Sousuke stared at the screen, his heart beating rapidly in his chest 

> [text]: yes

He dropped his phone, pilfering through the bag and staring at the crop top with new perspective. Haruka had _made_ this. Haruka had made something really nice and it matched his dress.

Haruka had made this just for Sousuke.

Sousuke didn’t want to think of it in those terms, but how else could he put it? What other reason would he have to be in ownership of a crop top that was clearly way too big for him, unless his best friend liked crop tops? Even if Makoto _did_ like crop tops and wore them regularly outside of his knowledge, Sousuke doubted that Haruka would have one that _coincidentally_ matched the dress that he knew Haruka saw him in.

He had to have made it with Sousuke in mind.

Sousuke blinked when he saw his phone flash again.

> [text]: cn i c u wear it

He hesitated. Sure, Haruka knew, and had been surprisingly good to his word about keeping his secret just that, a secret. And he did technically make the thing, but it was a scary thought, to show someone something that he’d hidden from the world for a while now, and to someone who wasn’t his closest friend.

Sousuke bit his lip, thumbs hovering over the keys.

> [text]: … sure

He wasn’t too sure if that was the right thing.

 

* * *

 

Showing up at Haruka’s place was a bit more than intimidating, considering he’d never been to the quiet neighborhood by the sea. He was prone to getting lost, so all of his concentration was being used in trying to find his way, the few people he did stumble across were scared of him. His face probably looked so serious.

He was climbing up the steps, wondering which house might be Haruka’s and which one might be Makoto’s when an orange calico cat scampered up the steps past him. He watched the cat turn the corner and through someone’s fence into their yard. Sousuke decided to follow.

He stood for a moment, seeing Haruka sitting on his front step, scratching the cat behind its ears as it tried to push into his hand more, rolling over to expose its soft stomach.

Haruka peered up at him when the cat scampered off, and he unlocked the door and stepped inside, peaking out and motioning for Sousuke to come in. Sousuke wasn’t sure what he expected from Haruka’s home, but it was surprisingly tidy, and very minimalist. He supposed that’s what he should have expected from someone who lived alone. Rin had told him that Haruka was even more of a neat freak than he was.

It was… more than awkward, to say the least, as Haruka pointed him to a spare bedroom that he could use to change. The last time he’d come here was right after he yelled at him about Rin in middle school… and then shared croquettes with him. Honestly, he wasn’t sure what to think about his interactions with Haruka at all. He almost certainly could not call it a friendship just yet.

If it ever got to the stage of friendship.

Sousuke felt himself immediately relax as soon as he had the dress on, and paused to look at the crop top for a moment before slipping it over his head. It was honestly so weird how much comfort he felt from it. He had a feeling part of it had to do with his injury. Dresses were loose on him and caused less strain on his shoulder, compared to shirts.

It also helped him feel less anxious when he had to go into the hospital, if he already had something loose to wear rather than having to use their sanitized gowns.

He stood in front of Haruka’s bedroom door, not sure if he should knock or what. Was he really going to show Haruka this? Was that a good idea? What if this whole time, Haruka was lulling him into a false sense of comfort, and now he was going to take pictures of Sousuke in the dress to send it immediately to every contact in his phone.

The door opened even before Sousuke could knock, and he stared down at a slightly surprised Haruka, who paused for a moment in his doorway. “Ah.”

Again with that sound. “So? Are you going to laugh?”

Haruka moved to sit on his bed, and Sousuke took that as invitation to step inside. “Why would I laugh?”

Sousuke shifted his weight. “Isn’t that a normal reaction to seeing a large, muscular guy in a dress?”

He waited for an answer, and didn’t get one. At times like this, he wished he was able to read Haruka as well as Makoto did. It would save him a lot of suspense. “You look comfortable, so why would I laugh?”

Sousuke wanted to back away when Haruka stood up but he was frozen in place, watching Haruka eye the length of the dress before he looked over to his desk. Sousuke noticed a sewing kit open, and he watched in awe as Haruka began to hem the length of the dress so that it hit Sousuke where it needed to be.

He stared at himself in the floor length mirror in Haruka’s room, awed at how _nice_ it looked now that it was the proper length. “Why are you doing this?” he asked.

Haruka shrugged. “I felt like it.”

There was a moment that passed between them, and suddenly it felt less weird that Haruka saw him in a dress. Sousuke began to wonder how he ever thought that Haruka was the last person who should know? “You shouldn’t be embarrassed,” Haruka peered up at him, getting up from his kneeling position and dusting off his pants.

Sousuke rolled his eyes. “It’s not exactly a secret I’d want to be going around while I’m at an _all boys’ school_ , Haru.”

Haruka blinked at him, collecting his sewing supplies and putting them back on the desk. “Makoto wears his nails done sometimes,” he said.

That came out of no where. “Excuse me?”

“Makoto lets his sister paint his nails, and he likes them sometimes so he wears them to school,” Haruka explained, turning around to look at him. Sousuke plopped himself on Haruka’s bed. Why was he trying to comfort him at his best friend’s expense?

“I don’t see what that has to do with my secret.” He waited as Haruka sat down in his desk chair.

He shrugged, and Sousuke leaned back on his hands. “He gets made fun of sometimes, but that’s not important to him.”

Sousuke sighed through his nose, looking down at the dress as it lay over his legs. Like this, he didn’t have to worry about comfort. He preferred loose clothes to begin with, and shirts sometimes made things a hassle for him when his shoulder was acting up. He remembered, too, days when he’d be getting checked at the hospital, and feeling almost out of place in his hospital gown. Like he was in prison and the gown was his prison uniform. “They’re just easy to wear,” he mumbled.

“Then wear them,” Haruka was looking out the window, and it was weird how calm Sousuke felt talking about this. Haruka was treating it like they were talking about what they had for lunch yesterday. “You should ask Rin about his secret.”

Sousuke blinked. “He has one?” Did Haruka just have the luck of running into people at their most compromising of moments?

Haruka nodded. “It’ll make you feel better if you tell him.”

 

* * *

 

Sousuke was lying on his bunk, thinking about his conversation with Haruka earlier as he held up the crop top in front of him, staring at it with his music blasting in his ear. He saw the door open and he let the crop top fall on his stomach, sitting up to see Rin coming back in from a jog. “Good run?”

Rin downed half of his water bottle and slung the towel around his neck. “Yeah,” he sighed, moving around and collecting his things to go shower.

“Rin.”

Rin paused, looking up at Sousuke, who was leaning on the barrier of his bunk. “Yeah?”

“What’s your secret?”

Sousuke watched Rin’s face pale when the words left his lips, and it made Sousuke feel one hundred times better that he had done exactly that when Rin found his dress. “What makes you think I have one?”

“Haru said to ask you about your secret,” he replied, and he watched again as Rin’s eyes went wide, a frustrated sigh rushing out of his mouth as he clicked his tongue.

Rin walked over to his desk, picking up his phone. Sousuke watched as he pressed a few buttons and then held the screen up to him. Sousuke had to lean a bit to see, and as he squinted he saw a picture of him and Gou, clearly in full face make up. “I let Gou put make up on me sometimes when she wants to hang out,” Rin’s voice was shaking as he explained. It was clearly something he never thought he would be sharing with anyone, including Sousuke. “She’s really good at it, so I like to keep it on.”

Sousuke found himself being more impressed with Rin than anything. “That’s really cool of you,” he said, and he had to hold back the snort when he realized the compliment was embarrassing Rin. “You’re a good brother to her, you know.”

Rin rubbed the back of his neck, smiling a bit sheepishly before his cocky smirk returned to his face, eyebrow arched. “Of course I am,” he replied, and Sousuke snorted then.

“Hey, Rin.”

“Yeah?” Rin turned around to find Sousuke blushing up to his ears.

“You know that dress you found?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s mine,” he muttered, watching Rin’s eyes widen a bit in surprise, but not the kind of surprise he was expecting. It almost looked like Rin was surprised Sousuke was telling him.

Sousuke watched Rin give him a sheepish smile, his shoulders shrugging in apology. “I sort of knew,” he said. “There’s no way you could have gotten a girl in here without my help.”

Sousuke burst out laughing then. He was right, after all. Sousuke somehow _still_ managed to get lost on campus after being here for a year. It wasn’t uncommon to hear him muttering down the hallways about how the school was built like a maze.

He felt… better, now that Rin knew. He had a feeling that if Haruka decided to tell Makoto, he probably wouldn’t mind, either. “Thanks, Rin,” he said, smiling at him. Rin smiled back, reaching up to bump fists.

“I didn’t do anything,” he said, and he was right. Sousuke would have to thank Haruka properly later. “Besides,” Rin gave him a mischievous grin, “yellow isn’t your colour.”

“Oh, shut up.” Sousuke threw his pillow at him, and Rin squawked as he tried to dodge.

**Author's Note:**

> also hello i am not dead but im a bit dead by this new trend like guys really


End file.
